Exhibit opens Saturday at Heritage Museum

Larry Morton works on a train display at the Henderson County Heritage Museum.

TIMES-NEWS

By AMY B. McCrawTimes-News Correspondent

Published: Sunday, May 12, 2013 at 2:00 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, May 10, 2013 at 2:48 p.m.

The modern world came to Hendersonville on July 4, 1879.

Facts

Want to go?

What: Opening festivities for “The Golden Age: The Coming of the Railroad”

Where: Henderson County Heritage Museum in the Historic Courthouse on Main Street

When: Saturday, beginning at 10 a.m.

Admission: Free

Info: Call 694- 1619 or visit www.hendersoncountymuseum.com

It arrived that Independence Day with the first steam engine that chugged its way up the steep mountain grade from Saluda to the depot on Seventh Avenue.

The train’s arrival assured that Hendersonville would no longer be an isolated mountain community.

Farmers could move their produce outside Henderson County to both northern and southern stops along the train’s route.

Tourists from farther south could come to Hendersonville’s cool mountains for vacations in the summer.

Stores sprang up to serve both the tourists and the new residents who came to town because of the train. Even the look of Hendersonville changed after the train came. New middle-class and wealthy citizens who came to Hendersonville on the train wanted their houses and stores built in the latest modern styles found outside the mountains.

“After the Civil War and they finally got the train up the mountain, it changed everything.”

“The Golden Age: The Coming of the Railroad,” a new exhibit opening at the Heritage Museum, celebrates the arrival of the train in Henderson County and the golden age of optimism it ushered in.

The Heritage Museum plans to open the exhibit with a day full of activities beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday.

“Opening day should be a very exciting day,” said Carolyn Justus, chairwoman of the museum’s board of directors. “We’ll have a program outside for the big kickoff.”

Museum representatives will dress in period costumes, while two horse-drawn carriages and a trolley will carry visitors from the museum to the depot, the county’s genealogical and historical society and to the Curb Market.

Speakers for the kickoff celebration will include an official from Norfolk Southern Railroad and the president of the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club in Hendersonville.

The program will also include entertainment, refreshments and a showing of a film made in 1920 when an airplane flew over Hendersonville and filmed the area as part of a promotional effort.

The $45,000 Golden Age exhibit is the culmination of years of planning, research and the work of numerous volunteers, Justus said. It is scheduled to remain in place for four or five years. The museum wants the exhibit to be a celebration of Hendersonville’s golden age from the train’s arrival in 1879 to the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929.

The exhibit features a replica of the Saluda Mountain Grade, the steepest main-line standard gauge railroad in the United States, along with a re-creation of the Carolina Special, a passenger train that ran through the area from 1911 to 1968. The Carolina Special replica will run on tracks near the ceiling in a museum room.

In the museum’s Champion Hills room, a recreation of the Shepherd Store allows visitors to step back in time to the first general store in town.

The exhibit also includes a display focusing on architecture in Hendersonville during the golden age, along with Knox Crowell’s handmade models of the county’s historic courthouse, a steamboat and a settler’s cabin.

The Apple Valley Model Railroad Club began work on its portion of the exhibit about a year ago, club president Larry Morton said.

Club members spent months conducting research on each section of the railroad from Saluda to Hendersonville before beginning work on re-creating the route. The volunteers went to libraries to learn the history of the area, looked at old photographs, talked to members of the community and even walked sections of the train tracks to make sure they showed accurate colors and vegetation in their model. The result is an extremely accurate representation of the train’s journey from Saluda to Hendersonville, Morton said.

“It’s close,” he said. “We had to take some liberties due to the size.”

The club based its model on the area in the 1920s because they could not find model trains from the 1870s, he said.

Morton, who has lived in Hendersonville for seven years, said his work on the project was exciting.

“For me, it was a real education,” he said. “The story of the Saluda Grade is quite famous, and the impact of the railroad on Henderson County is very interesting.” He said he hopes visitors to the museum learn how important the railroad was to farmers and others in the county who used the trains to ship their goods outside the local area.

“I hope they take away the impact the railroad had on Henderson County and the people of Henderson County,” he said.

Museum board member Judy Abrell said she and others who worked on the general store also spent months researching and gathering items for the display. Abrell said she thinks visitors will be fascinated when they see the cash register and ledgers used in the first general store in Hendersonville. “They will be stunned when they see the price of things compared to today,” she said.

The room also features a case that holds spools of thread from years ago, a pot-bellied stove, rocking chairs and a table with a checkers game. Replicas of items that were once sold in general stores also will be displayed.

Abrell said the general store includes interactive displays that will allow visitors to push buttons to light up some items. Other push buttons will allow visitors to hear “the sounds of yesteryear on Main Street.”

The architecture display focuses on the creations of Richard Sharp Smith, who also worked on the Biltmore House in Asheville, and Erle Stillwell, who designed many buildings in the area.

LuAnn Welter, an administrative assistant in the city’s planning department, said the work of both architects during the golden age reflect the changes that came to Hendersonville after the train’s arrival.

“When the train arrived, Henderson County was very rural. Main Street had a Wild West look to it with wooden store fronts and houses,” she said. “The train brought wealthy and middle class citizens from bigger cities who wanted the latest in home design and commercial building design.”

The homes and commercial properties Smith and Stillwell designed reflect the desire many residents and businesses owners had to make their properties look like those found in Charlotte, Atlanta and even Charleston, S.C., she said.

Crowell’s model of Henderson County’s Historic Courthouse, which was designed by Smith and completed in 1906, also illustrates the push to make Hendersonville look modern after the train came.

The courthouse even included a concrete watering trough, which allowed horses to be kept inside the building rather than outside on the street.

“It was actually part of the inside room of the courthouse,” he said.

Whether it was a new modern courthouse, the first general store in town or an expanded market for the farmers who could now sell their produce outside Henderson County, the first train that came up the mountain from Saluda made one thing clear: Henderson County would never be the same.

For more information about the exhibit at the Heritage Museum, visit the museum’s website at www.hendersoncounty museum.com or call 6941619.

<p>The modern world came to Hendersonville on July 4, 1879.</p><p> It arrived that Independence Day with the first steam engine that chugged its way up the steep mountain grade from Saluda to the depot on Seventh Avenue.</p><p>The train's arrival assured that Hendersonville would no longer be an isolated mountain community.</p><p>Farmers could move their produce outside Henderson County to both northern and southern stops along the train's route.</p><p>Tourists from farther south could come to Hendersonville's cool mountains for vacations in the summer.</p><p>Stores sprang up to serve both the tourists and the new residents who came to town because of the train. Even the look of Hendersonville changed after the train came. New middle-class and wealthy citizens who came to Hendersonville on the train wanted their houses and stores built in the latest modern styles found outside the mountains.</p><p>“When the train came, it changed everything in Henderson County,” said Bette Carter, executive director of Henderson County's Heritage Museum.</p><p>“After the Civil War and they finally got the train up the mountain, it changed everything.” </p><p>“The Golden Age: The Coming of the Railroad,” a new exhibit opening at the Heritage Museum, celebrates the arrival of the train in Henderson County and the golden age of optimism it ushered in. </p><p>The Heritage Museum plans to open the exhibit with a day full of activities beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday. </p><p>“Opening day should be a very exciting day,” said Carolyn Justus, chairwoman of the museum's board of directors. “We'll have a program outside for the big kickoff.” </p><p>Museum representatives will dress in period costumes, while two horse-drawn carriages and a trolley will carry visitors from the museum to the depot, the county's genealogical and historical society and to the Curb Market. </p><p>Speakers for the kickoff celebration will include an official from Norfolk Southern Railroad and the president of the Apple Valley Model Railroad Club in Hendersonville. </p><p> The program will also include entertainment, refreshments and a showing of a film made in 1920 when an airplane flew over Hendersonville and filmed the area as part of a promotional effort. </p><p> The $45,000 Golden Age exhibit is the culmination of years of planning, research and the work of numerous volunteers, Justus said. It is scheduled to remain in place for four or five years. The museum wants the exhibit to be a celebration of Hendersonville's golden age from the train's arrival in 1879 to the beginning of the Great Depression in 1929. </p><p> The exhibit features a replica of the Saluda Mountain Grade, the steepest main-line standard gauge railroad in the United States, along with a re-creation of the Carolina Special, a passenger train that ran through the area from 1911 to 1968. The Carolina Special replica will run on tracks near the ceiling in a museum room. </p><p> In the museum's Champion Hills room, a recreation of the Shepherd Store allows visitors to step back in time to the first general store in town. </p><p> The exhibit also includes a display focusing on architecture in Hendersonville during the golden age, along with Knox Crowell's handmade models of the county's historic courthouse, a steamboat and a settler's cabin. </p><p> The Apple Valley Model Railroad Club began work on its portion of the exhibit about a year ago, club president Larry Morton said. </p><p> Club members spent months conducting research on each section of the railroad from Saluda to Hendersonville before beginning work on re-creating the route. The volunteers went to libraries to learn the history of the area, looked at old photographs, talked to members of the community and even walked sections of the train tracks to make sure they showed accurate colors and vegetation in their model. The result is an extremely accurate representation of the train's journey from Saluda to Hendersonville, Morton said. </p><p>“It's close,” he said. “We had to take some liberties due to the size.” </p><p>The club based its model on the area in the 1920s because they could not find model trains from the 1870s, he said. </p><p> Morton, who has lived in Hendersonville for seven years, said his work on the project was exciting. </p><p>“For me, it was a real education,” he said. “The story of the Saluda Grade is quite famous, and the impact of the railroad on Henderson County is very interesting.” He said he hopes visitors to the museum learn how important the railroad was to farmers and others in the county who used the trains to ship their goods outside the local area. </p><p>“I hope they take away the impact the railroad had on Henderson County and the people of Henderson County,” he said. </p><p> Museum board member Judy Abrell said she and others who worked on the general store also spent months researching and gathering items for the display. Abrell said she thinks visitors will be fascinated when they see the cash register and ledgers used in the first general store in Hendersonville. “They will be stunned when they see the price of things compared to today,” she said. </p><p> The room also features a case that holds spools of thread from years ago, a pot-bellied stove, rocking chairs and a table with a checkers game. Replicas of items that were once sold in general stores also will be displayed. </p><p> Abrell said the general store includes interactive displays that will allow visitors to push buttons to light up some items. Other push buttons will allow visitors to hear “the sounds of yesteryear on Main Street.” </p><p>The architecture display focuses on the creations of Richard Sharp Smith, who also worked on the Biltmore House in Asheville, and Erle Stillwell, who designed many buildings in the area. </p><p> LuAnn Welter, an administrative assistant in the city's planning department, said the work of both architects during the golden age reflect the changes that came to Hendersonville after the train's arrival. </p><p>“When the train arrived, Henderson County was very rural. Main Street had a Wild West look to it with wooden store fronts and houses,” she said. “The train brought wealthy and middle class citizens from bigger cities who wanted the latest in home design and commercial building design.” </p><p>The homes and commercial properties Smith and Stillwell designed reflect the desire many residents and businesses owners had to make their properties look like those found in Charlotte, Atlanta and even Charleston, S.C., she said. </p><p> Crowell's model of Henderson County's Historic Courthouse, which was designed by Smith and completed in 1906, also illustrates the push to make Hendersonville look modern after the train came. </p><p> The courthouse even included a concrete watering trough, which allowed horses to be kept inside the building rather than outside on the street. </p><p>“It was actually part of the inside room of the courthouse,” he said. </p><p> Whether it was a new modern courthouse, the first general store in town or an expanded market for the farmers who could now sell their produce outside Henderson County, the first train that came up the mountain from Saluda made one thing clear: Henderson County would never be the same. </p><p> For more information about the exhibit at the Heritage Museum, visit the museum's website at www.hendersoncounty museum.com or call 6941619.</p>